This article series is about the tools of popular guitarists. What are their favorite guitars and how is it related to them? This time with Max van Esch (Phantom Elite, Another Now).
Pic by Megan Keijzer
When you started playing guitar, do you remember your first guitar?
I started playing guitar at the age of 15 after beating Guitar Hero 3 and basically thinking, „And now what?“ My first guitar was a €150 BC Rich Warlock. Even though I’m definitely less interested in pointy shaped guitars at the moment, that guitar meant everything to me the first couple of years.
What are your influences, and which guitar players are your favorites?
Some people who have influenced me a lot throughout the years are John Petrucci, Zakk Wylde, and Stephen Carpenter from Deftones. However, my absolute favorite guitar player is Guthrie Govan. I see him as the greatest of all time, and his chops and phrasing skills are absolutely unmatched.
How many guitars do you own, and what are your favorite models?
I own around 7 guitars, but I only play three of them, which are all Strandbergs. From the moment I laid my hands on a model in the Music Store in Cologne years ago, I knew that was what I wanted. The headless body, which is as light as a feather, combined with the Endur neck (a trapezoid-shaped neck instead of a C shape) and the fanned frets, and overall sleek aesthetic, is as perfect as it can get. I just got a new one that I play the most at the moment (Strandberg 7-string Natural Quilted Maple), but I have to say my favorite guitar of the bunch is my Strandberg Sälen, which is a Strandberg-styled Tele. Sadly, I can’t take it on tour with me since all my bands play 7 strings nowadays, and this particular guitar is a 6-string. But when I’m home, that’s the one that usually gets all the love haha.
What do you think makes the perfect guitar and amp?
I think the perfect guitar and amp both need to be versatile. I like to play a lot of different genres and can easily switch my playing mood from deathcore to smooth jazz, so I want a guitar that can do both. Second, I don’t have the strongest back in the world, so I would always choose a light guitar over a heavy one. No Gibsons for me, I can tell you. When it comes to amps, I’m definitely the kind of guy who takes simplicity over tone. I’m absolutely amazed by how far we have come with digital amps, and the fact that I can take my Neural Dsp Quad Cortex with me in my backpack is just astounding, and I love it. I don’t take part in the whole tubes vs solid-state vs digital debate. I just want something that’s as small and versatile as possible.
How do you feel about the question of modeler or tube amp?
Haha, well, like I sort of already stated above, I don’t have an opinion when it comes to tone. Both sound amazing nowadays. I’ll just keep my opinion to the weight and size of the amp. In that case, modeler all the way.
Which guitars and amps were used on the new album or for recordings?
So when it comes to our new album Blue Blood by Phantom Elite, no amps were used. I actually used a few different versions of the Archetype plugin. For distortion, I used the Nolly plugin. For cleans, I used Tim Henson’s plugin. And for some weird shit, I used the Gojira plugin. It’s super easy to use, sounds great, and the amazing thing is that you can go back to an already recorded part and just tweak the sound.
When you can only choose one guitar, which one will you take?
Strandberg Salen all the way, and for god sake let them make a 7 string version with a humbucker in the bridge and a single coil in the neck and Ill never complain about guitars again!
https://www.phantom-elite.com/
